View source for Amaethon

{{Short description|Welsh mythological being}}
In [[Welsh mythology]], '''Amaethon''' ({{Langx|cy|Amaethon fab Dôn}} ({{IPA|cy|aˈmaːɨθɔn }})) was the son of [[Dôn]], and brother to [[Arianrhod]], [[Penarddun]], [[Gilfaethwy]], [[Gofannon]], [[Gwydion]], and [[Lludd Llaw Eraint|Nudd]]. His name means "great labourer" or "great ploughman" and he is cited in Peniarth MS.98b as being responsible for the [[Cad Goddeu]], or "Battle of Trees" against the lord of the otherworld, [[Arawn]].

==Sources==
The principal reference to Amaethon appears in the medieval Welsh prose tale ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', where he was the only man who could till a certain field, one of the impossible tasks Culhwch had been set before he could win Olwen's hand.

In the seventeenth-century Welsh poem ''Cad Goddau'' in Peniarth MS.98b (not to be confused with the poem of the same name attributed to [[Taliesin]], a possible reference is made to Amathaon, where it is recorded that he steals a [[dog]], [[lapwing]] and [[Roe Deer|roebuck]] from [[Arawn]], king of [[Annwn]] (the otherworld), leading to a battle against Arawn. Gwydion used his magic staff to turn trees into warriors who helped the children of Dôn win.<ref>Cad Goddau: The Battle of the Trees. [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu.html translation by Lady Charlotte Guest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608213842/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu.html |date=2011-06-08 }}, [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu-w.html Welsh original] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229123609/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cadgoddeu-w.html |date=2017-12-29 }}. Jones' Celtic Encyclopaedia.</ref>

In one of the triads invented by [[Iolo Morganwg]], he teaches magic to his brother [[Gwydion]] (this is not accepted as a genuine [[Welsh Triads|medieval triad]] by modern scholars).

==Etymology==
His name is derived from [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] *''Ambaxtonos'' meaning great follower, servant or ploughman, an augmentative form of ''[[:fr:ambactos|ambactos]]'' (ultimately from ''*ambhi-ag-to-''<ref>[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf Proto-Celtic&mdash;English], [http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/MoE-PCl.pdf English&mdash;Proto-Celtic] lexicon from the University of Wales. Cf. also the Indo-European and [http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic Celtic data] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211181501/http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic |date=February 11, 2006 }} collected at the University of Leiden.</ref>).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*Ellis, Peter Berresford, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): {{ISBN|0-19-508961-8}}
*MacKillop, James. ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-280120-1}}.
*Wood, Juliette, ''The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art'', Thorsons Publishers (2002): {{ISBN|0-00-764059-5}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf Proto-Celtic &mdash; English lexicon]

{{Celtic mythology (Welsh)}}

[[Category:Welsh mythology]]
[[Category:Mabinogion]]